Mixer shower - superfluous cold pipework?

I have moved into a house with an older mixer gravity-fed shower and I'd like to install a shower pump. The hot water take-off is from the top of the cylinder as you would expect. The cold feed comes down from the loft to the floor of the airing cupboard then takes a U-turn back up to the height of the mixer. Why would they do that? Is it to equalise the h/c pressure or did the plumber have shares in copper pipe? There is very little spare room in the airing cupboard so I want to 'simplify' the additional pipework to the booster pump if possible.

ps: I am not a plumber
Ian

the cold feed your on about is it for the cylinder or the mixer.if your installing a shower pump either use an essex or surrey flange. preferbly an essex but means drilling a hole in your cylinder, for your hot supply. and make sure your cold feed is supplied from your cold water tank with the connection below that of your hot tank feed. also make sure pipe work is of equal sizing.read the MIs instructions and you cant go far wrong

The plot thickens.

The cold feed pipe only goes to the mixer, nowhere else. However it is painted dirty white from where it exits the loft down to about the height of the hot water cylinder. It is then bare 15mm copper as it goes down to the floor, round the u-bend and back up to the mixer cold-inlet. This would suggest that it is an add-on, perhaps to cure a pressure problem or some other condition that I don't know about. I asked around in our local Plumber's merchants in Chorley today and no-one knew why that pipe configuration would have been done.

I'm having a Combi boiler fitted early next year which means I can't use a shower booster pump so maybe I'll just leave the whole thing as it is until then and put up with the low pressure. Its an interesting problem though - I'm sure there must be an explanation.

Ian

funny i was brought up in chorley holy cross rc high

That probably explains your spelling and grammar...

probably